Columbia University Head Start Quality Research Center (HSQRC)

In 2000, five-year grants were awarded to eight Head Start Quality Research Centers (HSQRC), partnerships between academic researchers and Head Start programs created to implement and evaluate an intervention to improve child outcomes. The Center is collaborating with two Head Start partners in Connecticut to launch an innovative and holistic observational assessment system. The intervention involves training Head Start staff to observe and assess children, classrooms and programs; interpret and share results with parents, teachers, and staff; and collectively make improvements based on assessment results. This project will equip Head Start staff with a proven system of assessments to critically examine their own work and empower them to improve program quality and school readiness for Head Start children.

Funding Source : Administration on Children, Youth and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Contact: Rachel Razza, Ph.D., Liza Reaney Malone

Policy Brief:
Using Assessment to Improve School Readiness and Head Start Program Quality
The National Center for Children and Families, Teachers College, Columbia University
(July 2007)

Other Current Early Childcare and Education Projects:

- National Evaluation of the Early Head Start Programs
- The Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP): An 18-Year Follow-Up
- Washington State's Early Learning and Development Benchmarks
- New York City ACS/DOE Uniform Performance Measurement System
- Child Care Subsidy Use Among Low-Income Working Families in New York City
- Early Childhood Workforce and Models of Individual Professional Certification

Completed Early Care and Education Research Projects